All I want for Christmas is a little privacy
by fightfortherightsofhouseelves
Summary: The one with Ron's sensitive nerves when best mates and little sisters are involved. Because spending the first Christmas at the Burrow after the war is both a chance to heal and a challenge. Have a very merry Christmas with wickedness on top!


Written for the _HGSecretSanta_ competition hosted by sunlitfirewhiskey on tumblr. All my appreciation is sent towards LittleRose13 for helping me renounce my Americanism when writing British characters.

May you have a magical Christmas :)

* * *

 _Gin,_

 _Everything is fine on the grounds. I've actually managed to get out of doing rounds on Christmas! I hope your classes are going well, and McGonagall isn't burying you under a load of homework. Yeah, you guessed right that your Mum would start stressing by this time and I'm positive she never leaves the kitchen anymore. I genuinely have no clue how she will take it when I'll tell her that I'm thinking about finding my own place. I'm afraid the roof might blow up. But I've already burdened your parents for far too long and don't you start saying that they're happy to have me. I know they are, Gin, I really do and I am beyond grateful. But sometimes it's nice to know that it will be just the two of us when you can come visit, don't you reckon? And I think Teddy is finally old enough that I can have Andromeda agree to let me have him over for the night.  
_

 _Say hi to Hermione for me. I can't wait to see you both because Ron can't stop yapping about her. Actually, I lied. I can't wait to see you. I miss you._

 _Love,_

 _Harry._

"Miss Weasley! _Miss Weasley_!," small Professor Flitwick tried to capture her attention. As short as he was, he could be very imposing whenever he felt that a student was losing focus as obviously as Ginny Weasley was at that moment. Her mind was in a completely different place, so far away from the Hogwarts classroom and Advanced Charms that she was startled to hear Flitwick's voice coming from somewhere in her proximity. She gave a small jump and dropped the letter she had been reading for the hundredth time since it had been delivered that morning.

"Oh, sorry, Professor! I was just thinking about Christmas," she said lightly, forgetting to look embarrassed. She never had any problem responding to professors, and she knew that sometimes she came across as cheeky. But she had always spoken her mind and this was one of the things that other people had to accept about her if they wanted to be in her presence.

"Of course. Please focus on what we are doing today, as I am confident it will show up on your NEWTS."He turned his back to her and started walking to the front of the class.

"And Miss Weasley?" Professor Flitwick added over his shoulder. "Do tell Mr. Potter that I wish him the best of luck in his new career as an Auror."

Ginny was sure she saw the slightest trace of smugness in the small professor's eyes. She curled one corner of her mouth, feeling quite proud of her boyfriend. He had passed all his trainings and examinations with flying colours and in a record time at that. All those suicide missions he had been jumping into headfirst finally paid off, she reckoned. Oh, how she missed him. She just couldn't be bothered with Charms today, not when there were only two more days until she could see him again. Kiss him again. Trace her fingers through his wonderfully wild dark hair. No, she just _couldn't_ be bothered, NEWT subject or not.

The Hogwarts Express blew its ancient engine as it drew closer to its terminus, Kings Cross. Hermione, assuming her Head Girl duties, was shepherding the first years out of their compartments and urging them to change into their Muggle clothes. Luna was concentrating hard upon a Quibbler crossword puzzle, quill in her mouth and her wand holding her hair in place in a strange updo. Ginny was staring out the window, anxious for the ride to be over. So anxious, in fact, that she was absentmindedly tapping the floor with her foot.

"Your aura feels deranged today, Ginny," Luna said, her eyes never leaving the crossword.

"Wh-What?" the redhead snapped back to reality.

"You're thinking about Harry, is that it? Should I leave to your own thoughts?"Luna inquired, her enormous eyes widening a tad more, something that made her look almost demented.

"No, no, I was just trying to make up my mind," Ginny replied.  
"Mhmm," the blonde hummed. Somehow, Ginny was under the impression that her friend's intuition could break through the mask of coolness she was putting on.

Ginny, Luna and Hermione descended from the old train, their school trunks flying elegantly after them, courtesy of Hermione's charmwork. Ginny's eyes quickly darted from one side of the platform to the other, but it was only her father who was waving towards them and smiling kindly, with Ron clad in new dragon hide jacket and gloves next to him. _Show-off_ , she thought and bit back an insolent remark for the sake of her friend.

Suddenly, two calloused hands crept from behind her, covering her eyes.

"Harry!" she exclaimed, twirling around and jumping into his arms.

"Easy there," he chuckled, catching her and leaning in for a respectful peck on the lips. It was all he could do with Mr. Weasley's eyes surveying them, and he needed to keep the level of awkwardness to a minimum, seeing that they were en route for two weeks of living under the same roof with her parents.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ginny quirked an eyebrow at him. "I've had better from Moaning Myrtle."

"First of all, since when are you off snogging Hogwarts ghosts? And second, your Dad is here, as I am sure you did not fail to notice," Harry replied, slightly bemused at his girlfriend's antics.

Ginny pouted in response.

"I promise I'll make it up to you as soon as we get some privacy. Now come on, your Mum's gonna come looking for us herself if we don't hurry. She's in a right state," the young Auror shook his head. Taking her hand, they made their way towards the barrier.

"Gee, Ron, are you trying to check if she has a sore throat?" Ginny barked as she passed by Hermione and her brother, who were tightly locked together in a fiery embrace, now that Mr. Weasley was already on the other side of the barrier, searching for a taxi.

Harry stifled a laugh and shot her a look that clearly said _behave_. It was all too important for him to remain in good relations with Ron throughout the holidays. He took their make-up very well until now, not that Harry gave him many chances to witness what he was getting up to with his little sister. He was confident that Ron wouldn't be as pleased if he knew about some of the letters they'd exchanged and that last night spent at the Burrow before Ginny had started her seventh year at Hogwarts.

"What?! If we can't, then they can't either!"Ginny retorted, crossing her arms against her chest.

"Watch it!" Ron spit back. "Just because I gave you my permission, it doesn't mean that you have the right to –"

"Your _permission_?! Ginny shrieked. "How many times do I have to tell you that I need nobody's _bloody permission_ to snog the daylights out of my boyfriend when and where I want to!"her temper started rising up.

"Stop it, you two," Mr. Weasley stopped their bickering. He had just slipped back onto platform 9 ¾ to tell them that he'd found a ride and they needed to hurry.

The two Weasleys, Hermione, Harry and Luna queued in front of the barrier, with whispered abuses of _git_ and _you just wait till we get home_ flying between the first two.

The Burrow's living room was wonderfully decorated, a generous Christmas tree proudly occupying the corner next to the fireplace. Fleur's hand was clearly visible in the decorating process, as glitter and glowing fairies were donned throughout the entire room. The beautiful witch had announced her pregnancy just a month earlier, so naturally Mrs. Weasley allowed her to do anything she pleased. She would have permitted Fleur to decorate the living room with dragon dung, quite frankly, as Ginny did not fail to remark under her breath as soon as she arrived. Luckily, it was only Harry that overheard her and she knew he could be trusted. Her distaste for Fleur had tuned down over the years, but she still felt the occasional jolt of jealousy, seeing her oldest and favorite brother being smothered with attention and showered in sickeningly fluffy gestures by his young wife. Oh well, she just had to focus all her attention on Harry, wouldn't she?

Mrs. Weasley was placing everyone at the table, one hand on her hip and the other clenched round a wooden spoon. Her endless hours of work in order to make sure that everyone would be completely stuffed and accommodated at the table made her in no mood for the Weasley jokes and general chaos that usually took over the house even during the most average of days.

The table threatened to crumble under the tens of dishes it carried. Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy, his new girlfriend Audrey, George, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, Mr. Weasley and for the first time Andromeda, cradling baby Teddy on her lap, were tightly squeezed together, elbows hitting elbows at the table placed in the middle of the Burrow's living room. The day's lunch was a pleasant affair, as jokes were cracked and old friends had the opportunity to catch up with each other. Once or twice Mrs. Weasley lost her temper, as Bill and Charlie decided to start an impromptu duel under the table, throwing food at each other, while George took the mickey out of Percy in front of his girlfriend, eliciting a dignified " _Mother, please ask George to put an end to this nonsense behaviour"_ out of him. Of course, it only incentivised George to keep going, and nobody could really scold him as it was one of the rare occasions when he seemed to be having a genuinely good time after he had found himself alone in the world.

Without them being aware, the first seeds of healing started to grow that day at the Burrow. Nobody was talking about war anymore, nobody looked as strained and as sleep deprived as they did just that summer, and dark silences no longer stretched above the room. The Weasley home bathed in happy chattering voices, roast meat and treacle tart odours. Snow flowers were sketched on the windows, the wood was cackling sweetly inside the hearth and glasses were chinked all across the table. Ginny felt her insides slowly warming in the aftermath of the butterbeer she swigged from at times. Her eyes fell on Harry as he was lifting little Teddy from Andromeda and gently placing him on his lap. The baby squealed excitedly and rapidly squeezed his eyes shut, a look of intense concentration on his face. His hair changed ebony dark, to match his godfather's.

 _I'm home_ , she thought.

By that time everyone felt stuffed enough to attempt leaving the table before Molly tried to force more food on them. Ginny observed that Harry and her were the only ones left at the table.

"Wait for me, okay?" she whispered in his ear before starting to collect the remnants of the family's best cutlery from the table. Swaying her hips languorously, she turned to wink at him as she exited the room. Young as she was, the redhead was well aware of the effect she had on her boyfriend and took great pleasure in making him stare, mouth agape, every time she got the chance.

Harry smiled to himself, wondering what Ginny was up to now. He was anxious and even felt bold enough to venture a guess as to what she was planning, blushing ever so slightly as he did so. Then he shook his head, reminding himself of his surroundings.

 _"Must not think those thoughts, must not –,"_ but his private monologue was interrupted by Teddy. Still nestled on his lap, the baby was trying to yank his glasses off his face with little success. "Now, now, Teddy. Your godfather needs his glasses to see. He's blind as a bat without them, yes he is, yes he is," he made a silly face at the little boy, the way grown-ups suddenly surprise themselves doing when they are speaking to babies. "And you know what, Teddy? Try not to date a Weasley girl when you grow up. They have overprotective brothers, and it will be ridiculously hard to…," but his voice trailed away, as he caught a flash of long red hair out of the corner of his eye.

"To what?" Ginny laughed, the hand she placed on his shoulder giving him goosebumps.

"Ah, you know, just act like a perfect gentleman. Kiss her hand, walk her home before curfew, hold doors for her. I heard they are massive fans of gallantry, those Weasley women," Harry replied nonchalantly, looking up at her. Thus, he got a nice view down her shirt, which left him flustered and ruined his act of bravado.

"Course you do," Ginny said cockily, as if knowing what was going on inside his head. "Come on, Charlie offered to look after Teddy while I steal you for an hour or so. Mum is in the kitchen, preparing Christmas dinner with Audrey and Andromeda, so she'll leave us alone for awhile."

"Hmm, tempting. And where are we going exactly?"he asked, still a bit flushed.

"To my room, of course. It's time I gave you your Christmas present, yeah?"the young witch responded matter-of-factly.

Five ideas clashed inside Harry's mind at the same time. One, he had only twice before been in Ginny's room and that was when that utterly intoxicating kiss had happened, on his seventeenth birthday, followed by that completely unexpected night just before she left for Hogwarts. Two, based on this rationale, he could predict that everytime he crossed her doorstep, something unforeseen would happen, which might prompt Ron to seriously injure him. Third, his trousers tightened uncomfortably at the sheer thought of being alone with her again in her room. Four, what if someone caught them and he would be forever banned from the house and never allowed to see Ginny? And fifth, the feeling of déjà-vu he was getting was so intense that it made him lose focus for a moment.

Before he could snap back, Ginny was already dragging him up the stairs, Charlie blinking surprised at them as Teddy yawned in his arms. His heart was beating very fast, for this was the first time they would enjoy some well-deserved privacy after _that_ night. He had found it was impossible to fall asleep, so he had gone to talk to her. She'd always understood him better than anyone and she somehow knew exactly what to say. But their talk turned into something more and before they could realise, clothes started flying, his heart threatened to break his rib cage, the moonlight reflected on Ginny's skin and she was encouraging him to do it before she would lose her nerve and change her mind.

"So everything I could find in Hogsmeade was either boring or too expensive," she said, while closing the door behind them and being careful enough to magically lock it. "So I thought you might like this," the seventeen-year old added, sounding a bit sheepish.

Harry couldn't do much but stare as Ginny started lifting her burgundy Christmas jumper, a present from Mrs. Weasley from earlier years.

"Do you like it?" she asked, for Harry's expression was one of bewilderment and his mouth was hanging open in quite an amusing fashion.

"Erm…," was all he could intelligently say after racking his brains. He was awed. His eyes were glued to her freckled chest, where a smashing black lace bra supported her full perky breasts. It was really the first time Harry's eyes had ever been blessed with the superb sight of feminine undergarments and quite frankly, he had no idea what to do with it. The Auror kicked himself mentally for laughing at Ron when he offered to lend him his book "Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches." He reckoned that he could have found something there on what to do when your breathtaking, ridiculously attractive girlfriend decides to treat you to a view of her glorious breasts inside her parents' house. He could bet all the gold in his Gringotts vault that Ron would know what to do instead of ogling and babbling like a troll.

Some flights of stairs below, in the garden, Ron was brushing snow off Hermione's hair. He was just explaining how her advice had worked and how it helped him with his nerves. Yes, indeed, he was much more relaxed now than he had been at the beginning of his Auror training.

Her frostbitten cheeks were the prettiest thing he'd seen in quite some time and Ron leaned in to kiss her. Suddenly, he froze in his tracks.

"Ron, are you okay?" Hermione asked worriedly. She knew that it could only be a grim prediction when his features constricted and heat flushed all the way up from his neck to his ears.

"GET OFF MY SISTER!," he bellowed, tightening his fists like a mad man.

Hermione's head turned in the direction of Ginny's window so fast she was sure she heard a crack. " _Oh why, why didn't she think to shut the curtains?_!" the bushy-haired girl mused.

Inside Ginny's room, Ron and Hermione could clearly see something they both wished they'd never had the chance to. Harry was taking his time kissing along her jaw, her neck, consequently reaching her very bare chest, as his girlfriend's hands reached down to unzip his trousers. Hermione's face went different shades of pink and before she could get a good grip on him, Ron had Disapparated.

"This is bad," she told herself and hurried to catch him before he could inflict permanent damage on their best friend.

Both Ginny and Harry jumped apart as they heard someone banging on the door, almost tearing it down.

"I saw what you were doing from the window! I saw what you were doing to my sister, now get out here!"Ron bellowed from the door frame, slamming his fists on it all the while.

Harry blanched, the realisation of why he had been experiencing such an intense feeling of déjà-vu slapping him across the face. Indeed, this was not the first time Ron had come pounding on his sister's door because of him. He quickly turned towards Ginny.

"Well, listen," he said as he zipped his trousers, "we had a good run, you know. What was it? Four-five months? I mean that's more than people have in a life time. So bye-bye, take care, bye-bye now," he added, taking her face in his hands and kissing her on the lips before making his way to the window. Yanking it open, he attempted to jump outside, before Ginny knocked enough sense back into her and managed to get a firm grip on his wrist.

"Come on, I can handle Ron," she confidently said, pulling a shaking Harry back inside her room and tossing her jumper back on.

"Hi, Ron, what's up, bro?" Ginny asked coolly as she opened the door.

"I thought you were my best mate," he pointed his index finger towards Harry, as he unceremoniously passed by his little sister.

"Oh, _for crying out loud_ ," the red-haired witch lost her patience."Would you stop being the world's biggest git and grow up?"she asked shrewdly, her hands on her hips in a convincing imitation of Mrs. Weasley.

"I am not — _what_ — you are my _sister_! My _best mate_ and my _sister_ -," he stammered, disconcerted by Ginny's cross attitude.

"One, I am of age," she spoke louder, holding up a hand to stop him going any further."And two, we love each other so what's wrong with what we're doing?"she quizzically arched an eyebrow at him.

"You – _you what_?!" Ron gaped.

"It's true, mate," Harry finally found his voice and took a step closer, draping his arm round Ginny's shoulder as if to emphasise his words."I really do love her. More than anyone, it's more than I have ever felt for anyone. Sorry you had to find out this way," he continued, his voice betraying genuine regret.

Silence fell across the room, as Ron stared incredulously at the pair of them.  
"My best mate and my sister…" he whispered. "I cannot believe this," he said louder and launched forward to hug them.

"Erm…" Harry mumbled, awkwardly patting his best mate on the back.

A choked cry came from the shadows of the corridor. In a matter of seconds, a pile of bushy brown hair engulfed them, as Hermione jumped in to hug the couple as well.

Ginny was the first one to snap back to her senses and become completely aware of the folly that was whole situation. She was braless, with her jumper apparently put on backwards, and squeezed like in a burrito with her boyfriend by her best friend and older brother, who had rudely interrupted their foreplay.

"Yeah, okay, cool, _bye now_ ," Ginny pushed the intruders out of her room and shut the door in their faces.

"Well happy Christmas to you too," Ron scoffed at the closed door. Giggling, Hermione took him by the hand and dragged him downstairs. Her two friends were entitled to some privacy, after all. And maybe they could follow their example later, when the commotion died down.

Yes, it was yet another wonderfully chaotic Christmas at the Burrow, and it was incredible to feel the peace settle in their war-wounded hearts after so much time.

* * *

Yes, yes, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. did collide with Harry Potter in my mind. Because every older brother will have his Dr. Geller moment when younger sisters are involved. Throw in a best mate touching said sister and here's your recipe for disaster.


End file.
